COLOMBO - A UN panel has called for an independent probe into "credible" allegations that Sri Lanka committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in its final 2009 offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels, a report said Saturday.
The panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon submitted its report last week, and leaked excerpts were published Saturday in Sri Lanka's pro-government Island newspaper.
The leaked report detailed "credible allegations" which, if proven, indicate a wide range of violations both by the government and the rebels, "some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity". Specifically, it cited charges of government shelling that targeted civilians, hospitals and humanitarian targets, as well as the denial of humanitarian assistance to civilians caught up in the fighting. It said that "tens of thousands" of people died between January and May 2009 in the final government offensive that resulted in the defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatists, ending a brutal, decades-old ethnic conflict. "Most of the civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were caused by government shelling," the leaked document said. It also listed alleged violations by the rebel forces, saying they had used civilians as a human shield, shooting any who tried to escape. A copy of the panel's report, which the UN had scheduled for release next week, had been sent to the Sri Lankan government which responded last Wednesday by calling it "fundamentally flawed" and "biased". Observers suggested Colombo may have engineered the leak to prepare a full rebuttal that would pre-empt the report's official publication. A foreign ministry official confirmed that the leaked document was genuine and said the foreign minister would brief diplomats in Colombo on the specific allegations next week. In New York, a UN spokesman said the leak of the report was "deeply regrettable."
